More than 5 years after the Infant Mental Health Forum, there is cause to celebrate. Early Head Start programs are increasingly aware of mental health issues and their role in promoting strong emotional health among the infants, toddlers, and parents enrolled in their programs. Exemplary demonstrations of a myriad of mental health approaches are underway with thoughtful evaluation that is tracking and distilling the outcomes and lessons learned. The commitment to continuous improvement called for by the advisory committee that created Early Head Start is alive and well, with federal staff and partnering researchers constantly translating findings into concrete guidance for programs.
While much has been achieved, many of the recommendations of the Infant Mental Health Forum attendees outlined in Supporting the Mental Health of Our Youngest Children ΝACYF, 2000Ν still need to be addressed. The challenges are staggering. Public awareness and acceptance of infant mental health is very slowly taking hold. There still continues to be a shortage of professionals who have capacity to address infant mental health issues and serve as consultants to early care and education programs. The challenges long inherent in community mental health services and reimbursement of such care continue to complicate delivery and financing of mental health services for individuals of every age and every level of need. The list goes on.
Fortunately, the commitment of practitioners, researchers, and trainers involved in advancing infant mental health within Early Head Start is strong. Findings like those from the prekindergarten follow-up study of Early Head Start children summarized in the article by Chazan-Cohen et al. Νthis issueΝ, and other research on the emotional well-being of young children, their parents, and the importance of parent-child relationships ΝShonkoff & Phillips, 2000Ν, provide assurance that we are moving in the right direction. But we cannot be complacent and assume that further gains will automatically follow. We encourage readers to look back to the original action steps of the Infant Mental Health Forum included in the introduction of this special issue, as those action steps are still very relevant. While some work has